Governor Issues Executive Order On Opioid Abuse

Today, Gov. Eric Greitens announced his executive order concerning opioid abuse. The executive order creates what is described as a “multi-phase prescription drug monitoring program.” The first phase involves the Department of Health and Senior Services contracting with Express Scripts, and potentially other pharmacy benefit managers, to analyze prescribing and dispensing data. This will be used to identify and investigate inappropriate prescribing or dispensing. The department will refer incidents of concern to practitioner licensure boards and/or law enforcement. A second phase will require dispensers to submit controlled substance prescribing and dispensing data to state government. Also, the department is to engage “innovative technology and software” to monitor controlled substance data.

Governor Vetoes Legislation On Involuntary Medication Hearings

Gov. Greitens has vetoed Senate Bill 128 from the 2017 state legislative session. A large bill broadly related to judicial topics, the legislation had been amended to allow Department of Mental Health attorneys to seek, and participate in, hearings regarding involuntary medication of patients committed to the department because of a lack of mental fitness to stand trial for a criminal offense.

CMS Issues Changes To PFS And Other Part B Services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule regarding revisions to payment policies and payment rates under the Medicare physician fee schedule for calendar year 2018. MHA has published an issue brief with additional information.

CMS Releases Proposed CY 2018 OPPS And ASC Payment And Policy Updates

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released calendar year 2018 proposed payment and policy updates to the outpatient PPS and ambulatory surgical center payment systems. CMS is continuing to solicit feedback with additional requests for information about ways to improve transparency, flexibility, program simplification and innovation. The major changes within the proposed rule include a 2 percent payment increase for OPPS, payment reductions under the 340B program, two-year extension of the non-enforcement of direct supervision for critical access and small rural hospitals and a 1.9 percent payment increase for ASCs. Comments about the proposed rule must be received no later than 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11. MHA has published an issue brief with additional details.

CMS Announces IQR Education Session

An outreach and education session for hospitals participating in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program is scheduled at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 26. The topic is SEP-1 Early Management Bundle, Severe Sepsis/Septic Shock. The presentation will clarify guidance related to abstraction of the SEP-1 measure for version 5.2a of the specifications manual and discuss revisions to the measure in version 5.3 of the manual. Registration is required.

CMS Releases October 2017 Hospital Compare Preview Reports

October 2017 inpatient and outpatient Hospital Compare preview reports are available on the QualityNet Secure Portal. Hospitals are encouraged to access and download reports early in the preview period, which ends Sunday, Aug. 13. Additional information is available.

CMS Releases OQR Times Newsletter

Consider This ...

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nursing is among the top occupations in terms of job growth, with projections taking the number of positions from 2.7 million in 2014 to 3.2 million in 2024.